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04 DENTAL TRIBUNE Pakistan Edition March 2016 Study explores dentists’ views on teledentistry PDA, Shield & Dental Tribune.... Continued from front Page from gum disease and tooth decay to oral cancer. Only 20pc of the country's population enjoys access to oral healthcare; 50pc of school children have dental carries, while Oral Cancer is, unfortunately, the second most common cancer in the country. Keeping in view the disturbing scenario vis-à-vis the oral health issues in Pakistan, Shield® in collaboration with Dental Tribune, the widely-read monthly magazine that had been providing instant coverage to the events taking place in the field of dentistry and carrying the most revealing stories for over a decade, reiterate its commitment of bringing out a positive change in the population's oral health by actively participating in PDA's activities. This year's programme that includes 17 cities and 60 locations allover Pakistan - courtesy Shield Corporation and PDA - is the biggest-ever activity of its kind undertaken in the country. The sponsors also arranged free checkup of school children in various cities of Pakistan, besides launching extensive print and electronic media campaigns and the sole objective of all such activities is to create awareness about oral health among the masses. The activities in Pakistan began with school programmes on March 7. It was followed by a press conference where PDA officials highlighted Pakistan's oral health issues. A walk was organized by Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences in Hyderabad and it was followed by a well-attended symposium held to create awareness about oral health issues. At a free checkup camp organized on March 21, patients were taught correct brushing techniques and were given a tooth brush and paste free of any charge. The participating institutions included Altamash Institute of Dental Medicine, Bahria University, Baqai Medical & Dental University, Bibi Asefa Dental College, Bhitai Dental & Medical College & Hospital, Dr.Khalid Dental Surgery, Sukkur; Civil Hospital Hyderabad, Dow International Dental College, Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan Institute of Oral Health Sciences, Dow Dental College, Fatima Jinnah Dental College, Hamdard University Dental Hospital, Isra University, Jinnah Medical & Dental College, Jinnah Sindh Medical University, Karachi Medical & Dental College, Liaquat College of Medicine & Dentistry, Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences, Madina Medical Centre, Bin Qasim; Sir Syed Dental College, Ziauddin Dental College (ZU), Islamic International Dental College (Riphah University), Islamabad Medical & Dental College, Margalla College of Dentistry,Aziz Fatima Hospital FSD,Allied Hospital (Punjab Medical College) FSD, CMH Lahore Medical College, de'Montmorency College of Dentistry, Faryal Dental College, FMH Medical & Dental College, Islam Dental College, Lahore Medical & Dental College, Nishtar Institute of Dentistry, Multan; Multan Medical & Dental College, Rural Health Centre Laws, District Chakwal; Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore; Sheikh Zayed Hospital RYK, The University of Lahore, University of Faisalabad (Madina University), VIP Niazi Medical Complex, Sargodha; Ayub Medical & Dental College, Bacha Khan Medical College, Mardan; Peshawar Dental College, Sardar Begum Dental College, Women Dental College/Rehmat Memorial Hospital, Abbottabad and Bolan Medical College, Quetta. Dental Tribune which spearheaded and initiated the World Oral Health Day in Pakistan with its sponsor - Shield Corporation- in 2010, has been working tirelessly to create oral health awareness across Pakistan and enjoying continued support from dental institutions in organizing free OPDs to mark the WOHD 2016. ERTH, Australia: Although teledentistry has shown to be a valuable addition to regular dental services in pilot programmes in remote and underserved areas, many dental professionals still have uncertainties regarding the implementation of an efficient teledental system in daily practice, an Australian study has found. Teledental programmes hold the promise of providing underserved and low-income patients with affordable dental care and thereby reducing financial burdens through preventive care. The concept provides that specially trained hygienists and assistants consult via the Internet with their supervising dentists and might perform basic treatments that would normally be outside of their official scope of practice. In order to explore dental practitioners’ perceptions of the usefulness of teledentistry in improving dental practice and patient outcomes, researchers from the University of Western Australia surveyed 135 Australian dentists in an online questionnaire. In the survey, dental practitioners’ perceptions regarding teledental services were polled in four categories, namely the usefulness of teledentistry for patients, the usefulness of teledentistry for dental practice, the capability of teledentistry to improve practice, and perceived concerns about the use of teledentistry. More than 80 per cent of the participants agreed that teledentistry would improve dental practice through enhancing communication with peers, guidance and referral of new patients. The majority also felt that teledentistry would be useful in improving patient management and increasing patient satisfaction. However, a substantial proportion of the respondents also expressed reservations towards telemedicine in routine practice, including uncertainty regarding technical reliability, privacy issues, practice expenses, as well as medical issues, such as surgery time and diagnostic accuracy. Continued on page 14 DT International P Teledentistry, which was first used by the US military to treat troops stationed far from dental specialists, could provide a means to improve access at low cost for people in need. ELBOURNE, Australia: Variation in tooth sizes in humans has been primarily attributed to natural selection and dietary changes over the centuries. However, the underlying mechanisms of these changes have not been fully understood to date. Researchers have now found that relative tooth size in mammals follows a simple rule. Using the rule, scientists can predict the sizes of teeth missing from human fossils and extinct hominins, and provide clues about future evolution of human dentition. The study was conducted by an international team of anthropologists and developmental biologists from Finland, Germany, the UK and the US, and led by Dr Alistair Evans from Monash University’s School of Biological Sciences in Australia. In order to examine the evolution of the proportions of human teeth, the team used a new extensive database on fossil hominins and modern humans collected over several decades, as well as high-resolution 3-D imaging technology. They found that the inhibitory cascade, a mathematical model for interpreting relative tooth size, produces the default pattern of tooth size for all lower primary post-canines in hominins. “On the basis of the relationship of inhibitory cascade patterning with size, we can use the size at one tooth position to predict the sizes of the remaining four primary postcanine teeth in the row for hominins,” they explained. The findings of the study can be used to interpret hominin fossil finds and look into possible drivers of human evolution. “Sometimes we find only a few teeth in a fossil. With our new insight, we can reliably estimate how big the missing teeth were. The early hominin Ardipithecus is a good example—the second milk molar has never been found, but we can now predict how big it was,” Evans said. “Our new study shows that the pattern is a lot simpler than we first thought—human evolution was much more limited,” he concluded. The study, titled “A simple rule governs the evolution and development of hominin tooth size”, was published online on 24 February in the Nature journal. Teeth may predict human evolution Dr Alistair Evans examines a range of hominin skull casts that were included in the study DT International M